Telephone transmitter and mouthpiece.



H. NAKAI.

TELEPHONE TRANSMITTER AND MOUTHPIECE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28. 916.

. 1,225,672. Patented May 8,1917.

v WITNESSES INVEN (0/? zfasujl az ATTORNEYS HITASU NAKAI, 0F HAVRE,MONTANA.

TELEPHONE TRANSMITTER AND MOUTHPIECE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 8, 1917.

Application filed June 28, 1916. Serial No. 106,344.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HrrAsU NAKAI, a subject of the Emperor of Japan, anda resident of Havre, in the county of Hill and State of Montana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone Transmittersand Mouthpieces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the provision of sanitary mouthpieces fortelephone transmitters, and one of the main objects thereof is tosupplant the conventional mouthpiece by an inexpensive, destructible,mouthpiece for each user of a telephone, in other words, to compel theuse of thesanitary mouthpiece on the part of careless telephone userswho would otherwise use any mouthpiece which might be on the telephone.

In the practice of my invention I remove the conventional mouthpiece andsubstitute a casing therefor serving as a holder for my sanitarymouthpieces, said holder having a rotatable perforated plate thereinarranged above a permanent perforated plate with the perforationsnormally out of register but adapted to be brought into register uponthe installation of one of my mouthpieces, thereby preventing the use ofthe telephone when no mouthpiece of my special construction is in place.

My, invention is fully described in the following specification, ofwhich the accompanying drawings form a part, in which like charactersrefer to like parts in each of the views, and in which Figure 1 is acentral section taken through my invention, ready for use, with itsposition indicated by the dotted telephone transmitter;

Fig. 2 is a detached view of the mouthpiece;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a ,similar section but with the parts in the telephone usingposition, whereas Fig. 3 is with the parts in mouthpiece installingposition;

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1, with the parts inmouthpiece installing position;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of one of a plurality of nested detachableand destructible inserts which may be used in one of my mouthpieces, asfor family or semi-public use where the danger of contagion may not begreat or where the users will remember to remove an insert before .orafter use; and Fig. 7 is a central section takenthrough a nest ofinserts arranged within one of my mouthpieces.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, 8 represents a telephonetransmitter having the usual screw threaded central opening for thereception of the threaded end of a conventional mouthpiece. At 9 I haveshown a threaded neck of a casing 10 engaged in this threaded opening,said casing having a perforated plate 11 in thebottom thereof, asimilarly perforated disk 12 pivoted at 13, and an inwardly directedflange 14 cut away at diametrically opposite points, as shown at 15,Figs. 3 and 4, and said disk 12 is provided with extensions 16 providedwith side flanges forming pockets adapted to be brought into registerwith the cuts 15. In this position of the disk 12 the perforationstherethrough are out of register with the perforations in the plate 11,as shown in Fig. 3, a stop 17 insuring the register of the extensions 16and cuts 15, and I provide another stop 18 for the rotary movement ofthe disk 12 in such position as to insure register of the perforationsin the plate 11 and disk 12, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Adapted for connection with the casing 10 is a bell-shaped mouthpiece 19provided with a perforated bottom 20 and with hooks 21 adapted to bepassed through the cuts 15 in the flange 14 and to be seated in thepockets of the extensions 16 whereby, when said mouthpiece is rotated tothe right, the

hooks 21 pass beneath the said flange to lock the mouthpiece in placeand the disk 12 is rotated to impinge on the stop 18 to bring theperforations of the disk and of the plate 11 into register.

The mouthpiece 19 is composed of pure paper stock of suflicient rigidityto maintain its shape and to support the hooks 21, and I may, ifdesired, provide a thin sheet 22 above the perforated bottom 20 of themouthpiece and puncture the same to defeat its functioning as adiaphragm.

It is the intent to provide a new mouthpiece for each user of thetelephone and who, when he is through with the latter, will detach anddestroy the mouthpiece when the telephone is in a public place, wherebyit will be obligatory upon a future user of the telephone to procure anew mouthpiece, these either being in a suitable container convenient tothe telephone or being provided by the person in charge of thetelephone.

In conjunction with the mouthpiece shown I may, as in homes, oflices, orsemi-public places, provide a plurality of nested linings or inserts 23provided with perforated bottoms and held together in any suitable way,as by a looped wire 24, each of these having a tab 25 thereon wherebythey may be successively paper and I prefer to wax or otherwise treatthe paper in any form ofthe mouthpiece.

From the foregoing it will be noted that the casing 10 interposedbetween the transmitter and the mouthpiece is of great importance,particularly in public places, inasmuch as it enables a telephone userto detach and destroy the mouthpiece he had used and thus compel theprocuring of a new one by a subsequent telephone user.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will beunderstood that I do not limit myself to any specific structural detailsas many modifications thereof will suggest themselves and still be'within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the followingclaims.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a telephone transmitter provided with a threadedopening for a mouthpiece, of a casing provided with a threaded neckengaged in said opening, a mouthpiece in detachable engagement with saidcasing, and means for reventing the use of said telephone opera le bythe removal of said detachable mouthpiece.

2. The combination with 'a telephone transmitter provided with athreaded opening for a mouthpiece, of a casing provided with a threadedneck engaged in said openremoved after successive. telephone uses, theseinserts being made of very thin after use.

a mouthpiece in detachable engagement with said casing, a perforatedplate in the bottom of said casing, a disk rotatable in said casingprovided with complemental ing,

perforations, and means on said detachable in engagement with said diskmouthpiece the latter upon mouthpiece re for rotating moval to carry theperforations of said disk and plate out of register.

3. The combination with a telephone transmitter provided with a threadedopening for a mouthpiece, of a casing provi with a threaded neck engagedin said opening, a perforated plate in said casing, a similarlyperforated disk rotatable in said casing, said casing having a flange atits outer side cut away at opposed points, a mouthpiece providedhaving'an interrupted flange at the front:

thereof; a mouthpiece providedwith hooks ded with hooks adapted to bepassed beneath said flange through said adapted to be passed beneathsaid flange,

a plurality of destructible mouthpieces nested within said first namedmouth piece and adapted for individual removal. after successive uses ofsaid telephone,-a1lof said mouthpieces having perforated .bot-

8Q permit the passage of sound waves, and

toms with the perforations in register, to

means passed through certain perforations v in all of said mouthpiecesfor holdingthe latter together while permitting the removal of theinnemost one by its" destruction "HITASUI NAKIAII.

